Man sues highway patrol, says arrest was unlawfully based on expunged marijuana charge

[byron]

Man sues highway patrol, says arrest was unlawfully based on expunged marijuana charge

In court documents, the man says he had a copy of the expungement that he showed to a trooper, who arrested him anyway.

www.yahoo.com

 

[Apeman]

Why would you leave your gun in plain sight? If it wasn't in plain sight then how did she find it? Article just says gun in vehicle.

The trooper said the documents could be fake. Ok I can see that, but it's not that hard to call in and check to see if he's telling the truth before you arrest him. If for some reason his record is clean and their system still shows the conviction then there's a huge problem that needs to be addressed.

If his record was expunged I can't see how he could lose this case.

 

[kev74]

I bet they didn't give him his gun back either.

 

[spat]

Why would you leave your gun in plain sight? If it wasn't in plain sight then how did she find it? Article just says gun in vehicle.

The trooper said the documents could be fake. Ok I can see that, but it's not that hard to call in and check to see if he's telling the truth before you arrest him. If for some reason his record is clean and their system still shows the conviction then there's a huge problem that needs to be addressed.

If his record was expunged I can't see how he could lose this case.

"The documents could be fake"

--- "So could your badge".

"I assure you mine is real"

--- "So are mine"

 

[VietnamEraVet]

When my guns were seized (forced to turn them over to the OPPD) because my CCW was suspended, wrongfully, I had to hire a lawyer and go to Court and testify to get my CCW reinstated by a Court order, a copy of which was mailed to me by NYS Supreme Court one (1) day after my hearing.

When I presented it to the OPPD, they flat out refused to return my firearms to me, and said to my face: "How do we know that the Court Order you are showing us is legitimate, and not a fake produced by you? You have to have the Court mail us a copy directly."

I thought, "Really, motherfucker? You think I'm going to make up a fake document, and open myself up to charges over that???" Not only that, but my lawyer was the law partner (and son) of the Town Justice! WTF?

I kept my cool, persisted, and got them back months later. But I lost a hell of a lot of respect I had had my entire life for cops over the total shit show they put me through. And it was part of my decision to leave NYS as well. I hate corrupt assholes. The OPPD Chief of Police, an anti-2A prick (IMHO) who also opposed National Reciprocity (and even wrote to Congress opposing it) was the one who started the whole shit show. He was later forced to resign from the OPPD. Good Riddance!

From the article:

"Cunningham says he explained that to the trooper and produced an official copy of the expungement and said the bottom of the record that showed his conviction should end with the word "closed."
The trooper "advised she was aware of the expungement statute and its implications, but that she could not accept the certified copy of the expungement order because it could be a fake," court records say.
The trooper completed the arrest."

I hope he wins big.

 

[C3D]

JBTs going to be JBTs

 

[Grimscale]

I hope he wins big.

NYS
Providing bigger pots at lower odds than any lotto could dream of.

 

[Jchrisls]

When my guns were seized (forced to turn them over to the OPPD) because my CCW was suspended, wrongfully, I had to hire a lawyer and go to Court and testify to get my CCW reinstated by a Court order, a copy of which was mailed to me by NYS Supreme Court one (1) day after my hearing.

When I presented it to the OPPD, they flat out refused to return my firearms to me, and said to my face: "How do we know that the Court Order you are showing us is legitimate, and not a fake produced by you? You have to have the Court mail us a copy directly."

I thought, "Really, motherfucker? You think I'm going to make up a fake document, and open myself up to charges over that???" Not only that, but my lawyer was the law partner (and son) of the Town Justice! WTF?

I kept my cool, persisted, and got them back months later. But I lost a hell of a lot of respect I had had my entire life for cops over the total shit show they put me through. And it was part of my decision to leave NYS as well. I hate corrupt assholes. The OPPD Chief of Police, an anti-2A prick (IMHO) who also opposed National Reciprocity (and even wrote to Congress opposing it) was the one who started the whole shit show. He was later forced to resign from the OPPD. Good Riddance!

From the article:

"Cunningham says he explained that to the trooper and produced an official copy of the expungement and said the bottom of the record that showed his conviction should end with the word "closed."
The trooper "advised she was aware of the expungement statute and its implications, but that she could not accept the certified copy of the expungement order because it could be a fake," court records say.
The trooper completed the arrest."

I hope he wins big.

OPPD as in Orchard Park police department?

 

[VietnamEraVet]

OPPD as in Orchard Park police department?

One and the same.

 

[Jchrisls]

When my guns were seized (forced to turn them over to the OPPD) because my CCW was suspended, wrongfully, I had to hire a lawyer and go to Court and testify to get my CCW reinstated by a Court order, a copy of which was mailed to me by NYS Supreme Court one (1) day after my hearing.

When I presented it to the OPPD, they flat out refused to return my firearms to me, and said to my face: "How do we know that the Court Order you are showing us is legitimate, and not a fake produced by you? You have to have the Court mail us a copy directly."

I thought, "Really, motherfucker? You think I'm going to make up a fake document, and open myself up to charges over that???" Not only that, but my lawyer was the law partner (and son) of the Town Justice! WTF?

I kept my cool, persisted, and got them back months later. But I lost a hell of a lot of respect I had had my entire life for cops over the total shit show they put me through. And it was part of my decision to leave NYS as well. I hate corrupt assholes. The OPPD Chief of Police, an anti-2A prick (IMHO) who also opposed National Reciprocity (and even wrote to Congress opposing it) was the one who started the whole shit show. He was later forced to resign from the OPPD. Good Riddance!

From the article:

"Cunningham says he explained that to the trooper and produced an official copy of the expungement and said the bottom of the record that showed his conviction should end with the word "closed."
The trooper "advised she was aware of the expungement statute and its implications, but that she could not accept the certified copy of the expungement order because it could be a fake," court records say.
The trooper completed the arrest."

I hope he wins big.

So was it Chief Pacholec? If so I was unable to find the reason for his retirement since 2019.

Must have been something as they gave him an additional 100k to leave

 

[VietnamEraVet]

So was it Chief Pacholec? If so I was unable to find the reason for his retirement since 2019.

Must have been something as they gave him an additional 100k to leave

Yes, it was Mark Pacholec. And a “detective” whose name I don’t recall at this moment who started the shit show. First, his detective doxxed me by telling my ex wife and her violent boyfriend that I had gotten a CCW. (I actually have a copy of the OPPD report documenting her call to the OPPD, and him doxxing me. I got it when I FOID them for all documents having anything to do with me.) Said boyfriend is an accountant in Cheektowaga who had threatened to kill me on multiple occasions (over her demands for more money). He was so brazen that he had even admitted that to the OPPD - I actually have the OPPD incident reports documenting that. But under Pacholec, they refused to arrest him.

On the day they doxxed me, she later texted me saying she was coming by my home. (And this was in spite of my having filled out the paperwork to prevent public release of existence of my permit at the time I got it!) I texted back telling her to stay away. She and the boyfriend did not, and when I went outside, they began screaming that I had a “gun under my shirt”, which I did not. I did however have one in my pocket, as well as having extra ammo in another pocket. As they were screaming, I thought WTF is this all about? So I called 911 when he started to get out of their car to come after me. So did they. (And as I learned, he who calls 911 and gets thru first is the complainant, and if you get thru second, you will be the respondent, as I was.)

When her boyfriend started to come after me, I, without alluding to my CCW in any way, warned him to get the fuck back into his car, which he then did. I never drew my M&P Shield .45, nor even hinted or acknowledged I had it on me, or advanced toward him, or stepped off of my property.

And then the cops showed up in two cars. One officer went to their car; the other officer started circling around to get behind me. He proceeded to frisk and disarm me (I did not resist). The officer then gave me a raft of shit directly up close to my face while I stood there (calmly, on the outside anyway) as to “Why did I feel the need to carry, etc.”, to which I told him it was my right, and that I had done nothing wrong. They refused to arrest him for menacing (in spite of his well documented prior threats to kill me) and sent them away. At the end of the call, they gave me back my gun (in pieces), and told me NOT to reassemble it til they left as they get nervous when they hear a slide being racked.

A few days later, I went to OPPD and picked up a copy of the incident report for my records. I thought that was the end of it. It was only the beginning.

Six months later, I received a letter from the Erie County PPO head at that time, Wilmer Fowler, telling me that my CCW had been suspended because I had been ARRESTED! (Completely false accusation, of course.) Again, I thought, WTF is this all about? I turned in all of my handguns as they demanded, as I would have otherwise faced arrest.

The closest I had been to any cop had been was when I said Hi to ones I was friendly with in the Tim Horton’s coffee line directly across from the OP Town Hall and the OPPD station on mornings when I went to work.

And the shit show was on. Will Fowler refused to tell me where I had supposedly been arrested, or for what. I had some cop friends I had in the OPPD run my info,- and there was nothing. More digging, and I eventually learned that Chief Pacholec had supposedly written a letter to the PPO demanding that they suspend or revoke my permit due to the incident at my home.

I went to the OPPD to ask him about it, and he flat out denied to my face that he had written any such letter when I demanded a copy of it. He later said he “may have” written a letter not on OPPD letterhead (“personally”). I dug deeper and although I could not get a copy at that time, he finally admitted that he actually had written a letter in his official capacity, but he still refused to release a copy to me. No one would, including the Town Attorney. I had to go to Court without knowing what he had even accused me of.

I went to Court with a lawyer, and was offered an opportunity to go home to prepare a defense and come back in a month. Even then, the Judge would not release Pacholec’s letter to me. I told the Judge that I didn’t need time to prepare any defense, and that I was prepared to testify right then and there. I was sworn in and testified. The Judge immediately reinstated my CCW permit by Court Order,- a copy of which was mailed to me the following day. But as I have explained earlier, the shit show from the OPPD, as well as from Will Fowler continued. It STILL took me months to get my permit card as well as my handguns back from the OPPD.

Later, I was finally able to get a copy of Pacholec’s BS letter, as well as my entire PPO file through another avenue. It was interesting reading to me. Believe it or not, in his letter, he demanded that my permit be revoked because: 1. I had used profanity to convince a man threatening me to stay away from me, and in his car, and 2. Because I had the audacity to actually carry ammunition for my gun on me! Again, I ask, WTF? When I testified before the Judge, he asked me about those BS accusations. I answered him thus: 1. Considering I had a man coming after me who has threatened my life on multiple occasions, I believe I would have been justified in shooting him in self defense, but then we would be talking about a whole other set of circumstances. I believe that convincing him to back off by my judicious use of some profanity saved his life, and that saved everyone from a further mountain of shit to deal with was not a bad thing. And 2. I told him that my carrying ammunition was entirely legal and proper, and that a gun without ammunition was nothing but a block of metal, and not nearly as useful. He agreed, and then reinstated my permit.

Pacholec‘s tenure as Chief was coming to a close as he was acting irrationally. As I recall, almost all of the OPPD officers went to the Town Board and warned them that they had no confidence in him and his “leadership”. He was running the OPPD like a little tyrant. One incident I heard about was that he (allegedly, of course), was that when one officer in the department was leaving at the end of his shift momentarily parked his car by the back doors to the department, that Pacholec ran out there and got in his car to move it, and IIRC, he even wrote the officer up over said incident.

The Town of OP realized he needed to go, and so they paid him off. Personally, I wanted to see him fired over his flat out dishonesty and shit he put me through.

As far as Pacholec goes, I say Good Riddance.

 

[Jchrisls]

Yes, it was Mark Pacholec. And a “detective” whose name I don’t recall at this moment who started the shit show. First, his detective doxxed me by telling my ex wife and her violent boyfriend that I had gotten a CCW. Said boyfriend is an accountant in Cheektowaga who had threatened to kill me on multiple occasions (over her demands for more money). He was so brazen that he had even admitted that to the OPPD - I actually have the OPPD incident reports documenting that. But under Pacholec, they refused to arrest him.

On the day they doxxed me, she later texted me saying she was coming by my home. I texted back telling her to stay away. She and the boyfriend did not, and when I went outside, they began screaming that I had a “gun under my shirt”, which I did not. I did however have one in my pocket, as well as having extra ammo in another pocket. As they were screaming, I thought WTF is this all about? So I called 911 when he started to get out of their car to come after me. So did they. (And as I learned, he who calls 911 and gets thru first is the complainant, and if you get thru second, you will be the respondent, as I did.)

When her boyfriend started to come after me, I, without alluding to my CCW in any way, warned him to get the fuck back into his car, which he then did. I never drew my M&P Shield .45, nor even hinted or acknowledged I had it on me, or advanced toward him, or stepped off of my property.

And then the cops showed up in two cars. One officer went to their car; the other officer started circling around to get behind me. He proceeded to disarm me (I did not resist). The officer then gave me a raft of shit as to “Why did I feel the need to carry, etc.”, to which I told him it was my right, and that I had one nothing wrong. They refused to arrest him for menacing (in spite of his well documented prior threats to kill me) and sent them away. At the end of the call, they gave me back my gun (in pieces), and told me NOT to reassemble it til they left as they get nervous when they hear a slide being racked.

A few days later, I went to OPPD and picked up a copy of the in incident report for my records. I thought that was the end of it. It was only the beginning.

Six months later, I received a letter from the Erie County PPO head at that time, Wilmer Fowler, telling me that my CCW had been suspended because I had been ARRESTED! Again, I thought, WTF is this all about? I turned in all of my handguns as they demanded, or face arrest.

The closest I had been to any cop had been when I said Hi to ones I was friendly with in the Tim Horton’s coffee line directly across from the OP Town Hall and the OPPD station on mornings when I went to work.

And the shit show was on. Will Fowler refused to tell me where I had supposedly been arrested, or for what. I had some cop friends I had in the OPPD run my info,- and there was nothing. More digging, and I eventually learned that Chief Pacholec had supposedly written a letter to the PPO demanding that hey suspend or revoke my permit due to the incident at my home.

I went to the OPPD to ask him about it, and he flat out denied to my face that he had written any such letter when I demanded a copy of it. He later said he “may have” written a letter not on OPPD letterhead (“personally”). I dug deeper and although I could not a copy at that time, he finally admitted that he actually had written a letter in his official capacity, but he still refused to release a copy to me. No one would, including the Town Attorney. I had to go to Court without knowing what he had even accused me of.

All that, on your property, with a valid NYS CCW, without brandishing, while they were trespassing, most likely pre planned by the EX. And to have your permit suspended under sketchy pretenses to have to fight to get it back is horrible. If you don't mind me asking, did the NYS Supreme Court have access to the letter? If so, under the rules of discovery, you should have been afforded the chance to read it. Additionally, how was the NYS Supreme Court worded to afford you having your permit reinstated?

All in all one helluva shit show.

 

[VietnamEraVet]

All that, on your property, with a valid NYS CCW, without brandishing, while they were trespassing, most likely pre planned by the EX. And to have your permit suspended under sketchy pretenses to have to fight to get it back is horrible. If you don't mind me asking, did the NYS Supreme Court have access to the letter? If so, under the rules of discovery, you should have been afforded the chance to read it. Additionally, how was the NYS Supreme Court worded to afford you having your permit reinstated?

All in all one helluva shit show.

I agree re the EX. Most likely why.

The Judge had my PPO file in front of him on the bench during the hearing, and he read from Pacholec’s letter. When I asked him to see it, he refused. And when I asked him for a copy of it, he told me that he could not do that. I did not agree with that, but what could I do? And my lawyer wasn’t of any use with my request either.

As to the NYS Court order, it was likely a pretty standard form. As I recall, it basically said that after my having testified in Court, and the Court having found that no further reason exists for the suspension of my permit, that my permit was immediately reinstated.